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Rockridge Library Hit by City Budget Cuts in Staff, Hours

Last fall, the City Council had to cut $42.5 million from the General Fund because the city was receiving significantly less revenue from real estate transfers and sales tax. Police and fire services receive 65 percent of the $400 million in the fund and the Council deci...

RCPC Protests Park Maintenance Cuts R CPC and FROG (Friends of the Rockridge Greenbelt) have each written to City Council President and District One councilmember Jane Brunner protesting City plans to curtail maintenance of the highly popular FROG Park. The proposal is part of the draft...

By Don Kinkead

Of a total City budget of about $1 bil- lion, $550 million is federal and state grant money whose uses can’t be changed. Of the remaining $450 million, about $320 mil- lion is for police and fire and is locked in by union contracts that can’t be modified without unio...

By Susan Montauk

(about $475 million) for programming for youth. The proposal on your ballots is for 2.5 per cent of the total city budget (about $1.3 billion). This would boost Kids First funding to about $26 million by its third year, an amount that would dwarf all other city programs other than police and fire. In a time of financial crisis in the city of Oakland, it would be u...

Confronted with a $14 million budget deficit and no imme- diate potential for new revenue, the City Manager’s office has released a list of proposed budget cuts affecting every City department. Ina memorandum to the City Council prepared May 10, City Manager Henry Gardner detailed cuts...

...help her with the dishes. Every night from by Jennifer Kaplan, owner, Rockridge Home Come join the Rockridge Home crew in a garden cleaning party at the Rockridge Library, 5366 College Avenue. Rockridge Home has picked up the slack left by city budget cuts for the last few years by helping to maintain library grounds. Several times a year, we sponsor a clean-up to support the library and the community. Meet us at the library on Earth Day,

By Deborah Weinstein

agenda: RCPC Town Hall Meeting Thursday, March 17, 7:30 pm. Rockridge Branch Library 5366 College Avenue at Manila, Community Room (Upstairs)  Jane Brunner to Review City Budget at March 17 Town Hall Meeting. Where Should Your Tax Dollars Go? by Jessica Pitt In the coming months, the Oakland City Council and Mayor Brown will be finalizing the city’s budget for 2005-2007. Like most municipalities, Oakland is facing a de...

...d periodicals; to support the summer intern and children’s reading program; and has helped with maintenance and improvement of library furnishings. Over the years, with the support of our donors, FORL has filled many of the gaps created by city budget cuts. FORL has appreciated working closely with RCPC on a variety of community proj- ects, and has benefitted from its assistance and guidance, particularly in the early days The Lower Rockridge Parents Group (LRPG) will hold its annual Commu-

...ey will return to Rockridge, but there are no guarantees. The library system has had a hiring freeze in place for a long time. These moves are therefore forced by a promotion and a couple of people going on leave, creating a domino effect. City budget cuts are also causing a lot of furlough days at the library, which many patrons only discover by accident when they go on a day that the library would normally be open. — Jennifer Vetter, ardent library supporter ■ ■Rockridge Ninjas Anime Club:...

Board Vice President Jodi London, Police Chief Anthony Batts, and a dozen more department heads and managers from City Hall. After a pep talk on why Oaklanders love their city, the Mayor got to the root of all problems: money, or the lack of it. “This is clearly a budget situation that is the worst Jane and I have faced,” Quan said. “We’ve been cutting and cutting and...

...are likely ‘stuck’ with it. We could probably provide stricter traffic enforcement to improve flow, but do we want that? — Robert Wiles The Rockridge News welcomes letters to the editor. Your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and city/ neighborhood must be included for verification. Only your name will appear with your letter. Letters may be edited for clarity and brevity. Clarifying the question of the City Attorney’s pay cut Editor: I noticed in the June 6 edition of the RN that ...

...r signage might correct that. Actual plans will be discussed with community organizations, including the Rockridge Community Planning Council.  KITCHENS THEN…, PAGE 11 A denizen of the restored Oceanus mural eyes Claremont Brunner and the City Council worked hard this summer to save valued neighbor- hood institutions—the Rockridge Library and Fire Station 7—from devastating budget cuts related to shrinking state and city revenues. The  BUDGET CUTS, PAGE 11 Avenue Brunner and her staff are ...

By Barbara Anderson

More and more Neighbors are sharing the work of staying in touch with city government and monitoring the work of city offices and elected officials. Many Rockridge citizens attended city deficit- crisis meetings, and budget hearings, and rallied in support of Measure M to say “no” to cuts in essential neighborhood services.

...parking enforcement cost number provided in Mr. Gabel’s chart, the only precipitous increase in costs was between Fiscal 2011-12 ($1,425,472) and 12-13 ($3,882,027). The jump in the cost stems from the restoration of staffing following the budget cuts and layoffs during the big recession. As for the modest decline in parking citations, the City’s adopted 2015-17 budget document (see page E-85: www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/

By Chris Jackson

by necessity. Over the past years many limbs have come crashing down causing damage, fortunately only to vehicles. This is partly due to budget cuts in Oakland’s tree trimming and maintenance department. The department has been restricted to emergency service only on a city-wide basis due to lower staffing. By maintaining the existing trees, we improve their health and viability, and by eli...

RCPC Town Hall Meeting AGENDA September 2010 September 16, 2010, 7:30 p.m. Rockridge Branch Library 5366 College at Manila Community Room (Upstairs) The State of the City: Council President Jane Brunner answers your questions. The RCPC invites Rockridge residents to ask Councilmember Jane Brunner about Oakland’s current issues. Do you wonder...? y y Do you wonder how the City’s budget cuts impacted its services? y y Or...

By Don Kinkead

...- tation. Your comments and suggestions are important: contact information is included at the end of each topic. position may be cut. Another constraint is $40 million in debt service payments that can only be changed by renegotiation. The City is pursuing this, with a hoped-for reduction of $6 million. That leaves about $50 million for dis- cretionary programs; this year’s budget called for about $130 million in spending, thus about $80 million of the discretionary budget must be cut. This ...

...pening reception for “Bay Area Currents 2009,” showcasing the cream of the crop of Bay Area artists as selected by Kevin Chen, Program Director at Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco. The gallery is located at 150 Frank Ogawa Plaza, City Center, just across from the Rotunda building. It’s just a few steps from the 12th Street BART Station, so it’s easily accessible. Come and discover this gallery, Oakland’s gallery, if you have not been there before. The Rockridge Muse here is somethi...

...gram is expanding, with the invigorated PTA coordinating volunteers. Chabot Elementary School A beautiful new garden opened in May at Peralta Elementary, and work is planned to enhance the Alcatraz side of the school yard. Despite district budget cuts, the band teacher will be back for the fourth and fifth grades, and parents are sponsoring two notable guest music teachers: well-known folk singer Bonnie Lockhart (K-3) and Q.B. Williams, director of the Vukani Mawethu Choir (4-5). An already ...

Resources In North Oakland. Providers will pre- sent available programs and discuss how to make North Oakland more senior-friendly. An extra hour will be devoted to discussing the budget crisis and proposed spending cuts in Oakland. For more inf. and to get meeting topic for March 1st: 238-7001 or www.oaklandnet.com. Oakland City Council Meeting 5714 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Center Hours: Monday – Friday 8:45am to 4:45pm. NOTE: ...

By Erin O’Hara

.... Funds raised support enrichment education including art, music, and the library. They will also support stu- dent small-group reading and math specialists and equity and inclusion programming. This year, the PTA anticipates district-wide budget cuts, which makes the generosity of the community even more essential. How can you help? Do you have a talent or trade like music instruction, sewing, or woodworking that you can offer for the auction? Do you have access to a vacation home or Airbnb...

...ficial opening ceremony in an upcoming issue of The Rockridge News. FORL (the Friends of the Rockridge Library) has also seen strong support from the community during our year-end fundraising drive. As the library continues to face funding cuts due to budget shortfalls at the city of Oakland, maintaining a high level of programming and support is an ongoing challenge. FORL funding supports many key programs and projects that the shrinking

By Jody London

... emotional, physical. Some Oakland schools already do this, but the school board seeks to provide this for every child, starting in early child- hood education programs. The board is pursuing this vision in the face of the most devastating budget cuts to public education in decades because it is convinced this model provides the greatest educational opportunities for Oakland’s children, and for the city as a whole. Four- teen task forces are meeting regularly to plan implementation of this s...

... general fund, roughly 80 per cent (not counting debt payments) goes for police and fire services, leaving only $28 million for all other programs. The recession has hit Oakland hard, costing $90 million in annual revenue since 2006. Major budget cuts in the last fiscal year and earlier this fiscal year left little that could easily be cut. Even if all discretionary programs, including parks, libraries, and senior centers, were ended, Brunner said, it still wouldn’t be enough to avoid police...

...committee within RCPC called PARKS (People Advocating for Rockridge KidS), co-chaired by Theresa Nelson, and began planning for land, fundraising, and equipment. Today, maintenance of much of FROGPark, the park the group created, is on the City’s list of budget cuts. Volunteers will be needed to maintain the park in usable condition. Visit FROGPark’s Web site at http://www.frogpark. org/ and RCPC’s site at http://www.rockridge.

...andbaths.com FRO The pieces of the Rockridge- Temescal Greenbelt — Hardy Park, FROG Park, the Clifton Greenway, and Redondo Park — were each built by volunteer labor using materials purchased with public and community-raised funds. Planned budget cuts will require additional volunteer work just to maintain the park in a decent condition. KITCHENS & BATHS 510 547-6581 4640 TELEGRAPH AVE • OAKLAND HOURS: T-F 10-5 • SAT. 10-4  The Redondo Park site before construction.  Redondo Park, complete...

...rk It was a beautiful sunny Saturday at FROG Park for this year’s spring family Earth Day clean up. And let’s hear it for our com- munity volunteers! FROG Park wouldn’t be the same without them (and in fact wouldn’t be here at all), as the City’s budget cuts means that community members must help take care of their local parks. Lots of families and neighborhood residents showed up to spruce up their local park, including a local Brownie troop. We cleaned the playgrounds, sweeping the structu...

...ober 20 from 6:30pm-8pm the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Rockridge Library (FORL) will host their First Annual Donor Apprecia- tion Party. 2003 has been a difficult year for Oakland, and branch libraries have not been immune to cuts in services. Thanks to many extremely generous donations to FORL, the Board of Directors was pleased to present many books and other materials not covered under the city budget to the library. The donor appreciation party is being held to thank all FO...

Many topics had pluses balanced by minuses. For example, while Rockridge has a very low rate of violent crime, it has the highest crime rate in the city when nonviolent offenses—from auto theft and house burglaries to vandalism of trees and by Jacqueline Tasch Tlive in Rockridge and those who come here only to dine out or shop. raffic safety and schools/youth programs are the top priorities in Rock- r...

...in pairs 100 feet apart, finding that this pairing strategy produces the most effective results in noise reduction. The good news is that speed humps really work to slow traffic down on residential streets. The bad news is that the ongoing budget crisis in the City of Oakland will make it harder to get them installed. Given the fact that they are a self-enforcing long-term solution to speed- ing traffic, many people think the effort is worth it. from page 3 down and divert cars seeking short...

By Valerie Winemiller

RCPC has researched the availabil- ity of other funding for RASP. The requested amount of $22,383 is not available either in grant money or in equivalent staff time and materials, from the Oakland City Planning depart- ment budget, nor from the Oakland Metropolitan Forum, nor from the Neighborhood Commercial Revitaliza- tion (NCR) program. Our survey sug- gests that the entire RASP neighbor- hood planning process more likely than not will come to a ...

In the past few years, the Oakland Fire Department has seen tremendous budget cuts, but the most recent plan by Oakland’s City Council in the Fall of 1986 called for the closure of Engine #19. The Union obtained an injunction while negotiations began. That’s when local residents got involved.